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Young Adults’ Perceptions of Social Clock and Adulthood Roles in the Turkish Population

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine how adulthood roles (marriage and parenthood) and the perceived timing of the achievement of these roles (early, on-time, late) were related to well-being (depression and life satisfaction) and need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) in young adults. The sample consisted of 433 female and 244 male (N = 685) participants. Results revealed that individuals who perceived themselves as on-time for marriage reported higher levels of well-being and need satisfaction compared with individuals who perceived themselves as early or late. In addition, individuals who perceived themselves as having children on-time reported lower levels of depression and higher levels of need satisfaction compared with individuals who perceived themselves as early. For female participants, employed women have higher relatedness than non-employed women. In addition, married participants have more relatedness and life-satisfaction, and less depression than unmarried participants. The results suggest that fulfilling adulthood roles and the perceived timing of these roles affects well-being and need satisfaction.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Başkent University, Eskişehir Yolu 20. km, 06810, Ankara, Turkey

    Nilay Pekel-Uludağlı

  2. Department of Psychology, Atılım University, Ankara, Turkey

    Gülçin Akbaş

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  1. Nilay Pekel-Uludağlı
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  2. Gülçin Akbaş
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Correspondence to Nilay Pekel-Uludağlı.

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Pekel-Uludağlı, N., Akbaş, G. Young Adults’ Perceptions of Social Clock and Adulthood Roles in the Turkish Population. J Adult Dev 26, 105–115 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-018-9298-9

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